The Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) is marking the annual event by holding a Career Development Day to celebrate and promote the role of women in the industry. For the fourth year running, Star is proud to be the main sponsor of the event, which takes place on Tuesday 23 June 2020. 

The IOR is hosting a live online event for anyone currently involved or interested in the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump (RACHP) sector. The hour-long webinar at 10am will feature members of the Women in RACHP Network sharing their career experiences in a panel discussion, as well as an interactive Q&A session. 

Star Refrigeration’s Group HR Manager, Nadia Rae said: “We are continuing to drive change in the RACHP sector by actively seeking to bring more women into our engineering business in different roles. It is a challenge to attract more women to a career in an historically male-dominated industry, but the picture is improving year on year.” 

Ms Rae added: “Our belief is that the focus on promoting engineering as a career path for women should start as early as possible. By bringing roles within the engineering industry to the attention of children of primary school age, we hope that more women will seek to join the RACHP sector in the future.” 

The IOR first established its UK-wide network to promote women in RACHP on International Women in Engineering Day 2016. The Women in RACHP Network is open to anyone working in a engineering-related role, including service and maintenance, design, research, sales, marketing, administration and training. 

Star Refrigeration’s PR and marketing manager Astrid Prado played a key role in establishing and building the Women in RACHP Network. She was a driving force behind a recently published survey, which addresses the gender gap in the RACHP sector by outlining current attitudes towards women and barriers to equality. 

The Women in RACHP Network is now calling on the industry to invest heavily in initiatives aimed at creating an ideal working environment for women to thrive. As well as equal pay, recruitment and promotion initiatives, the group is calling for an industry-wide standardisation of flexible working benefits to support the needs of a modern, diverse workforce. 

You can find out more about the Women in RACHP Network and the planned career event here: https://ior.org.uk/about/women-in-rachp